I'm trying to add a hook from the Vanilla Skyrim game and attach it to a scabbard from a mod that I'm porting. I was able to put it into Blender and attach it...sort of:

See here: http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b355/ShinGouki2002/ScabbardandHilt.jpg

After that I saved it as an OBJ File. But when I imported it into my nif as an OBJ, some weird stuff happened.

1) The Scabbard and hook became really dark, like they had no light.
2) It imported two Objects separated with two Material files instead of just one merged piece like I expected.

I'm still new to Blender, and I dont know all the basics yet, but does anyone think they can help me fix this problem?

Also, why is it that Bethesda's model of the metal circle that holds the scabbard and hilt looks smooth: http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b355/ShinGouki2002/hookskyrim.jpg
But my model's metal circle looks like a hexagon and not smooth?: http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b355/ShinGouki2002/ScabbardandHilt.jpg

Any help would be really appreciated...

It's currently impossible to create proper Skyrim models in Blender unless you're willing to spend some time in NifScope adding in all the Skyrim-specific stuff.

If you're asking whether you should use Blender or 3Ds Max then I recommend Blender, it's free, more popular than 3Ds Max, there are tons of resources available for it and these days it's powerful enough to do most of the things 3Ds Max can do.

If you need details on how to import stuff to and from Blender through Nifskope, PM me. I just spent three days figuring out all of the software-compatibility-configuration-click-here-type-this-export there-do-this circus.

Mmm I Just want to edit my scabbard a bit and import it. I have all the other models in the game already, but I'm trying to customize the scabbard and get it to look correctly o_o.

I feel like I'm just using Blender incorrectly, rather than it being something NIF related...

It's two objects when exported because even though you joined the pieces there are two different materials attached to them, so they get split up when you export. Easiest thing to do is remove one of the materials before joining them.

I've noticed some odd things when exporting OBJs from Blender, so if you're using 2.49b then export as either a Fallout NIF or an Oblivion NIF. Then export the OBJ file from Nifskope, it seems to do a far better job with it.

To smooth out the ring you need to select it in Blender and use Set Smooth.